Top Alabama Agriculture Facts From the 2024 Census of Agriculture
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Alabama agriculture is a thriving and multifaceted contributor to the state economy. According to the USDA’s most recent Census of Agriculture, there are 37,362 farms in Alabama with a market value of agricultural products sold totaling more than $9 billion. (The 2022 Census of Agriculture data was released in February 2024 and is the most recent census data available.)
The number of farms in Alabama has decreased by 8% since 2017 and by 17% since 2002. However, there are still more than 8.6 million acres of farm land in Alabama, and the state’s average farm size is 231 acres.
The market value of crops grown in Alabama totaled more than $1.7 billion in 2022. The market value of livestock, poultry and their products, including beef, pork, chicken, dairy and eggs, came to nearly $7.3 billion.
What Are Alabama’s Top Agricultural Products?
According to the most recent available cash receipts (the total amount of crops or livestock sold in a calendar year), Alabama’s top agricultural products include broilers (chickens raised for meat), chicken eggs, cattle and calves, upland cotton, and corn, to name a few.
See More: Alabama Agriculture
Who Owns Alabama Farms?
The Census of Agriculture calculates farm ownership by the farm’s legal status for tax purposes. Like many states, Alabama farms are primarily owned and operated by families or individuals, with 33,797 family farms as of 2022, or about 91% of all farms in the state. Partnerships accounted for 1,707 farms, or 4.6%, while just over 1,500 farms, or 4%, are owned by corporations. Other farms, such as estates or trusts, prison farms, grazing associations, American Indian Reservations, etc., make up about 1% of farms in Alabama.
Alabama farmers are predominantly men. According to the Census of Agriculture, there were 40,999 male farmers in Alabama in 2022, making up 65% of the state’s total producers. Alabama’s 21,778 women farmers accounted for 35% of the total.
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How Old Are Alabama Farmers?
Out of 62,777 farmers in Alabama, most are over the age of 55. In fact, the average age of an Alabama farmer is 58.7 years old, up from 58 years in 2017.
Just under a quarter of Alabama farmers (around 24.7%) fall into the age group of 55 to 64 years, and 24.4% of farmers are ages 65 to 74. Farmers ranging from 45 to 54 years old account for 16.7%, followed by farmers over 75 years old (14.9%), then farmers ages 35 to 44 (11%). Only 6.2% of farmers are ages 25 to 34, and just 1,109 Alabama farmers are under 25, or about 1.7%.
More Alabama Farm Facts
Though the state counts more than 60,000 agricultural producers, 61% of Alabama farmers have a primary occupation other than farming. Only about 25,000 respondents to the Census of Agriculture said their primary occupation was farming.
Active duty military members and veterans also account for some farmers, as Alabama has 6,695 farmers with current or past military service.
See More: What’s Growing? Alabama Produce Calendar
According to the census, there are 3,576 Black farmers in Alabama who farm 396,248 acres of land across 2,459 farms.
Alabama is home to 24 USDA-certified organic farms, up from 15 in 2017. [Table 51]
Alabama’s cattle and calf inventory totaled 1,214,015 in 2022.
The state had 124 farms that produced 26,406 pounds of wool from their sheep herds in 2022.
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